Abstract
Nowadays, there have been various environmental sustainability initiatives implemented by the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through research, education, community involvement and campus operations. By embedding an effective initiative as well as best practices, environmental sustainability performance of universities can be improved. Realising the benefits of these factors, this book chapter aims at constructively reviewing the university’s environmental sustainability initiatives (ESI) by highlighting underlying issues and necessary improvements. To accomplish this, the ESI of three research universities in Malaysia were reviewed in accordance with UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. Around 36 major initiatives as well as several environmental sustainability courses that have been conducted by all three research universities was categorised using the descriptions and rationales of the six (6) main environmental category in UI GreenMetric which are Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation and Education and Research. It can be concluded that the key factors that should be included in the ESI plan are awareness and environmental knowledge, green space and land use management, energy efficiency and water conservation, natural resource limitation, climate change mitigation, waste minimisation, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, environmental education programme and research collaboration as well as environmental sustainability guidelines and policies. These factors can help and guide universities to produce a good and strategic plan in practicing and conducting ESI towards a better future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alshuwaikhat, H. M., & Abubakar, I. (2008). An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: Assessment of the current campus environmental management practices. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(16), 1777–1785.
Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3–4), 290–305.
Atkinson, R. C., & Blanpied, W. A. (2008). Research Universities: Core of the US science and technology system. Technology in Society, 30(1), 30–48.
Belu, R., Chiou, R., Tseng, T.-L. B., & Cioca, L. (2014). Advancing sustainable engineering practice through education and undergraduate research projects. In ASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (pp V005T005A022–V005T005A022). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Biasutti, M., & Frate, S. (2017). A validity and reliability study of the attitudes toward sustainable development scale. Environmental Education Research, 23(2), 214–230.
Cioca, L.-I., Ivascu, L., Rada, E. C., Torretta, V., & Ionescu, G. (2015). Sustainable development and technological impact on CO2 reducing conditions in Romania. Sustainability, 7(2), 1637–1650.
Corcoran, P. B., Wals, A. E. (2004). The problematics of sustainability in higher education: An introduction. In Higher education and the challenge of sustainability (pp 3–6). Springer.
Disterheft, A., Caeiro, S., Azeiteiro, U. M., Leal Filho, W. (2013). Sustainability science and education for sustainable development in universities: A way for transition. In Sustainability assessment tools in higher education institutions (pp 3–27). Springer.
Holdsworth, S., & Thomas, I. (2016). A sustainability education academic development framework (SEAD). Environmental Education Research, 22(8), 1073–1097.
Ivascu, A., Cioca, L. (2015). From theory to practice: Evolution of sustainable development in organizations. In Innovation Vision 2020: From Regional Development Sustainability to Global Economic Growth (1).
Krasny, M. E., & Delia, J. (2015). Natural area stewardship as part of campus sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 87–96.
Lehrer, M., Nell, P., & Gärber, L. (2009). A national systems view of university entrepreneurialism: Inferences from comparison of the German and US experience. Research Policy, 38(2), 268–280.
Mallak, S. K., Ishak, M. B., Mohamed, A. F. (2014). Waste minimization benefit and obstacles for solid industrial waste in Malaysia. IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicoogy and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) 8(2), 43–52.
QS Top Universities. (2018a). QS World University Rankings 2018: Malaysia. Retrieved July 4, 2018, from https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2018.
QS Top Universities. (2018b). QS Asian University Rankings 2018: Malaysia. Retrieved July 4, 2018, from https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/asian-university-rankings/2018.
Ragazzi, M., & Ghidini, F. (2017). Environmental sustainability of universities: Critical analysis of a green ranking. Energy Procedia, 119, 111–120.
Ramli, N., Zainol, Z. A., Aziz, J. A., Ali, H. M., Hassim, J., Hussein, W. M. H. W., et al. (2013). The concept of research university: The implementation in the context of Malaysian university system. Asian Social Science, 9(5), 307.
Refaat, T., El-Halwagy, E., & El-Zoklah, M. (2016). Environmental benefits of green infrastructure techniques and applications. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 204, 387–396.
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (1987) United Nations. Retrieved July 23, 2018, from http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf.
Razman, R., Abdullah, A. H., Wahid, A., Zaki, A. (2014). Sustainable development in higher education institutions (HEIs): Towards sustainable campus operations (SCO).
Scott, R. (2014). Education for sustainability through a photography competition. Sustainability, 6(2), 474–486.
Sheriff, N. M., & Abdullah, N. (2017). Research universities in Malaysia: What beholds? Asian Journal of University Education, 13(2), 35–50.
Siwar, C., & Ahmed, F. (2014). Concepts, dimensions and elements of water security. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 13(5), 281.
Times Higher Education. (2018). Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018: Malaysia. Retrieved July 2, 2018, from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/locations/MY/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats.
Universitas Indonesia. (2017). List of Universities in Each Country (2017): Malaysia. Retrieved July 4, 2018, from http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/detailnegara2017/?negara=Malaysia.
Universitas Indonesia. (2018). Guideline: UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2018.
Universiti Putra Malaysia. (2018a). The story behind UPM. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from http://www.upm.edu.my/about_us/history/the_story_behind_upm-8203.
Universiti Putra Malaysia. (2018b). Faculty of Environmental Studies. Green initiative. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from http://www.env.upm.edu.my/green_initiative-3173?L=en.
Universiti Malaya. (2018a). Our history. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.um.edu.my/about-um/our-history.
Universiti Malaya. (2018b). Sustainability@UM. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.um.edu.my/about-um/umique/sustainability@um.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. (2018). Brief history of UTM. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from http://www.utm.my/about/brief-history-of-utm/.
UTM Campus Sustainability. (2018). Sustainability Initiative. July 12, 2018, from http://www.utm.my/sustainable/.
Velazquez, L., Munguia, N., Platt, A., & Taddei, J. (2006). Sustainable university: What can be the matter? Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 810–819.
WWF Finland. (2011). Green office: Environmental management system for sustainable organisations–achievements and activities in 2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mohamed, N.H., Noor, Z.Z., Sing, C.L.I. (2020). Environmental Sustainability of Universities: Critical Review of Best Initiatives and Operational Practices. In: Yaser, A. (eds) Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-7259-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-7260-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)